Rep. Louie Gohmert Friday dismissed President Barack Obama's order for sanctions and the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats accused of spying as not being "all that much of a punishment" and amount to a middle school-style "slap back."
"If you're going to punish somebody, what he did is not all that much of a punishment," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program. "I was hosting for Sean Hannity yesterday. Mike from Ohio called in and said, 'this is really not a punishment because these 35 Russian expelled diplomats just choose the sanctuary city they want to go there.' You don't have to leave, go to a sanctuary city and go there. Chicago, San Francisco. It's not so bad. It's not really punishment."
Gohmert said Obama's actions reminded him of the days of middle school.
"When somebody got their feelings hurt, what did they do?" he said. "They tried to slap back. If you look at what this president has done, in 2012 . . .the president said, 'tell [President] Vladimir [Putin] I have a lot more flexibility.'"
At that time, "when he was willing to sell out the country and Vladimir didn't take him up on his offer, then it was a slap back just like in middle school. But if you look at what the president is doing at the same time with immigrants, I immediately thought of 'Batman Begins.' the one with Liam Neeson. What do you do if you want to destroy the big city? First they let the criminals go."
Obama is "letting as many criminals go as he can," Gohmert said, continuing the example. "Then you bring in outsiders to destroy what's left. This president, he's been told by ISIS, we're going to get terrorists in with the refugees and he says, great. Let's bring them on. We'll have them all here for Trump. Keep sending them."
As for President-elect Donald Trump: "I see Trump as the guy that comes sweeping in with the medicine that saves the city."
Gohmert said Trump has another thing going for him — he's a president perceived "as being a little bit crazy."
"I told Donald Trump this in September, we were talking privately," Gohmert said. "When you look at the presidents that did best with foreign policy, they were presidents perceived as being a little bit crazy. Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan . . . [Trump] said 'they say I'm crazy.' I said, 'that's why you will be great for foreign relations.'"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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